Materials and nanomaterials

Studies on water-material interaction hold great promise in understanding some of the very elusive properties like wettability or biocompatibility.

The structure of water have been recognized as fundamental for the biocompatibility of polymers, as a number of recent studies point out (Tanaka, Hayashi, and Morita 2013, Morita, Tanaka, and Ozaki 2007, Morita et al. 2010). These works are excellent examples of other windows in EM spectra which reveal structure – function relationship of water.

Recent aquaphotomics material studies include exploration of water state in hydrogel materials of soft contact lenses (Munćan, Mileusnić, Šakota Rosić, et al. 2016, Šakota Rosić et al. 2016) which revealed the state of the polymer networks, protein deposits on the surfaces of worn contact lenses, and for the first time while the lenses are hydrated in conditions most similar to physiological. Furthermore, these studies provide a common platform for exploration of water and hydrophilic materials at the same time in a completely non-destructive manner.

Aquaphotomics ventured even in the exploration of nanomaterials, such as, fullerene based nanomaterials revealing them to act in very low concentrations as water structuring elements (Matija et al. 2012, Matija et al. 2013). This finding may explain some of the peculiar findings about their excellent antioxidant and radioprotective properties, where it is only hypothesized so far that water plays also a key role (Andrievsky et al. 2009).